


The Sweetest Poison

by Lafaiette



Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Non-Graphic Violence, Poisoning, Ryder touches a bad plant on Havarl and Jaal panics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-13
Updated: 2017-05-13
Packaged: 2018-10-31 09:30:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10896516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lafaiette/pseuds/Lafaiette
Summary: Jaal warned them some of the plants and leaves on Havarl were dangerous, but they never encountered them until now.





	The Sweetest Poison

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from Tumblr: Anon wanted Jaal to suck the venom out of Ryder's wound after she was pinched by a plant. I don’t know anything about poisons and the correct way to do this (is there even a correct way?), so bear with me. ;_; Let’s pretend it’s more Space Magic™!

Jaal warned them some of the plants and leaves on Havarl were dangerous, but they never encountered them until now.

The Roekkar are not as strong as before and their numbers have greatly decreased too, but they still patrol the jungle, looking for more aliens to kill, hoping to follow Akksul’s teachings even now that he isn’t leading them anymore.

It’s during one of these skirmishes that Ryder discovers how painful the plants of Havarl can be for the first time.

A sniper successfully hit her arm, damaging a part of her armor there to the point it fell on the ground, leaving her forearm bare; at first, she doesn’t think about it too much, too busy defending herself from the other enemies, but SAM quickly reminds her to be careful.

“A direct hit to your arm would have disastrous consequences, Pathfinder. I suggest killing the sniper before he can maim you.”

“Oh, God, SAM.” she grimaces, ducking behind some boxes when a bullet hisses through the air right above her head. “That’s a terrible mental image.”

“Yet it’s a very possible one.”

“Humans are so squishy!” Drack roars with laughter while smashing his hammer down a poor Roekkar’s back, killing her instantly. “They don’t even have plates to protect them when they don’t have an armor on!”

“It’s not our fault evolution forgot about us!” she shouts back, playing along, and Drack’s laugh echoes louder. He swings his hammer left and right, not even caring about the bullets, and she feels bad for the Roekkar, flinching every time the massive krogan weapon hits one.

After shooting at one with her sniper rifle, making sure to kill him instantly to avoid any pain, she turns to where Jaal is: he is fighting as hard as her and Drack, without hesitation, with their same focus and energy, but she knows it must be pretty hard for him to still fight his own people.

Even if Akksul’s madness has been revealed and his group has lost much power and influence, making Jaal feel immensely better, she prays they will _all_ stop fighting one day; she prays that the Roekkar as a faction will disappear, as these angara finally start to let go of their hatred and allow themselves to hope again.

The sniper who broke her arm armor is perfectly aware of her disadvantage and tries to hit her again; she keeps hiding behind the crates, moving closer to a glowing bush without even paying attention to it.

“Darling One!” Jaal shouts from behind a tree. “Don’t move!”

“Don’t worry, I got this!” she replies, grinning at him before stepping back, closer and closer to the bush; if she can hide between it and the crate, she will be able to shoot at the sniper without being hit again.

There is just the perfect space between one crate and the largest, most shining leaves of the bush that will allow her bullet to pass through. She knows the sniper expect her head to pop out from behind the crate, right at the center of it, and that’s where he is expecting her next shot to come from.

If she’s lucky, she will take him by surprise and finally get rid of him – in the least painful way.

“No!” Jaal shouts again, moving to reach her, but she doesn’t hear him and she crouches right next to the bush, putting her rifle in position.

Her bare arm touches the large leaf and she distractedly feels a painful burn on it, but there is so much going around her – the sniper shooting above the crate again, Drack roaring at some poor Roekkar, Jaal yelling something again above all the noise – that she doesn’t think too much about it.

She sees the sniper’s head through the scope: she aims, breathing in and out a couple of times to stop her hands from moving too much, and then she shoots: one second later, the sniper lies dead on the ground, a clear bullet wound on his head.

Drack takes care of the last two Roekkar, while Jaal runs to Ryder, eyes wide and chest heaving, not with tiredness, but panic.

“I’m alright, honey! The sniper didn’t hit me!” she laughs, getting up… but her head suddenly feels very heavy and everything around her turns into an indistinct blur. She babbles something and Jaal’s strong arms keep her up, pulling her into a safe embrace.

“Darling One. Let me see your arm.” he says, helping her sit on top of a crate. He hisses and curses something in Shelesh when he sees the reddened skin.

Some weird green tendrils are appearing, _growing_ , on top of the red spot, too; they seem full of _something_ – probably a liquid - and Ryder lets out a gasp.

“Uh-oh.”

“Pathfinder, I detect a powerful toxin. If it enters your bloodstream, the effects would be dangerous, possibly even fatal. I’m not sure I would be able to fight it without knowing more about it and the plant that produces it.”

“And… and how much time would that take?”

“Studying the plant, its toxin, the effects it has on humans, and trying to come up with a cure would require more time than we currently have.” SAM doesn’t often sound impatient and he _never_ sounds scared, but she is pretty sure she can hear fear in his synthetic voice right now.

“Shit, Ryder. Why do you always have to touch everything?” Drack grumbles, his hammer and front of his armor covered in blue blood.

“I… I didn’t do it on purpose!” she slurs, her head getting heavier by the second. Her tongue feels swollen and her arm is starting to burn way too much for her tastes. It itches and she wants to scratches it, but she knows that if those tendrils rupture, the venom will enter her skin, then her bloodstream; it will make its way through her body and then she will probably die, this time with no hope of being brought back by SAM.

“That is not a dangerous plant for angara.” Jaal says, voice low, hands shaking, eyes dark with worry and fear. “It just gives us a bad rash, so everyone born on Havarl learns to recognize it and avoid it since from their early years of life.”

“What…” She licks her lips, suddenly feeling very hot. She is pretty sure she has a bad fever. “What do you do if you accidentally touch it?”

“We use our bioelectricity to burn the spores before the rash gets worse.” Jaal’s hands hover over her arm, but he doesn’t dare touch it. They are shaking harder than before and he looks on the verge of tears. “But… But I never saw this before. It doesn’t affect us this way.”

“Well, fuck.” Drack narrows his eyes at the green tendrils, which seem to be getting bigger, fuller of liquid. He glances at Ryder, who is shivering, eyes bleary, and he curses again.

“Guys, this is bad. We need to go back to the Tempest and let Lexi take care of this.”

“That would not be advisable.” SAM intervenes. “Even the smallest touch or movement may break the tendrils. In that case, the venom would penetrate the skin and…”

“We get it, SAM.” Jaal interrupts him, breathing heavily. He looks at Ryder, who can still keep her eyes open, and he chokes on a sob. “Chloe…”

“Let’s cut the arm.” Drack suddenly suggests, causing Jaal and Ryder to gawk at him as if he has gone mad. “What? It’s the best solution! This way the poison will never enter your body!”

“Yeah, but I’ll lose an arm!”

“Yeah, but you will _survive_.”

“Debatable. The severe bloodloss or a possible infection may kill her.” SAM quickly says before Drack can proceed with his idea.

“Back in my time, losing limbs wasn’t such a big deal! Youngsters have gotten way too much soft.”

“We have to do something!” Jaal nearly roars, causing Ryder to flinch because of the loud noise. He tries to calm down and he gingerly cradles her wet face in his hands, resting his forehead against hers.

“Chloe, my Darling One.” he murmurs, stroking her cheeks with his thumbs. “Do you trust me?”

“What?” She frowns, thinking she heard it wrong, but then she realizes she hears him perfectly well. “Of course I do, Jaal! What…”

“Then let me do this.”

He pulls away and slowly, as most delicately as he can, he takes her arm and raises it, studying the fat tendrils pulsing on it.

“What are you doing, kid?” Drack asks, tensing up, a hint of concern in his old voice.

“I’m going to suck the poison.”

“ _What._ ”

“Shit, kid.”

“Mr. Ama Darav, are you…”

“It’s the only way! We can’t bring her back to the Tempest in this state and we cannot waste more time here! We have to do something _now_!”

“Jaal, you will get hurt!” She tries to pull away her arm, but his grasp is iron-like and she is too weak to try again. “Jaal, please!”

“It’s not poisonous for angara.” he reminds her with a smile, kissing her, before looking back at the wound. The skin is crimson and shiny, now, and the tendrils are going to rupture soon.

“Alright, but it’s still some pretty bad shit! Who knows what it could do to your _mouth_.” she insists, shaking her head. “Normally, the plant just gives angara a rash, right? So you never even got in contact with this liquid before, what if…”

“My sensors indicate that the poisonous liquid is just the step that follows the rash, Pathfinder. This means it remains harmless to angaran physiology.”

“SAM, stop! Don’t give him ideas!”

“It’s settled, then.” Jaal smiles at her again, then observes the affected area on her arm. It’s small enough for his mouth to cover it whole, so he won’t miss even one tendril. He will have to be fast and precise, but those are skills he always had.

Also, if it meant saving his Darling One’s life, he would even find a way to catch all the stars in the sky.

He licks his lips, takes a deep breath, and then opens his mouth, bringing Ryder’s arm to it. The tendrils immediately break, but he is able to suck the poison before it can fully penetrate into her skin.

He also uses tiny electrical shocks to make sure to eliminate every trace of it and burn what remains of the tendrils, then he pulls away and spits the poison on the ground: it’s viscous, much dense, and it has a bitter taste. His tongue is already burning, but he doesn’t care.

He goes back to her arm, repeating the process twice before SAM informs him that all the poison has been eliminated from Ryder’s skin and that he successfully stopped it from seeping through it.

“The liquid’s thickness prevented it from entering your body instantly, Ryder.” the AI says, before adding softly: “Mr. Ama Darav did a great job.”

She looks at her arm: the skin is still red, but the tendrils are gone and just the signs they left on her skin are visible. It doesn’t burn and itch like before and she lets out a relieved sigh, before looking at Jaal, who is even more relieved than she is.

He is beaming at her and she cups his cheek, murmuring with tears in her eyes: “Oh, Jaal, thank you, I…”

She moves to kiss him, but he gently stops her, grimacing.

“No, my love.” His voice sounds strange, as if he’s speaking with a potato in his mouth. “I need to wash my mouth first.”

“I suggest going back to the Tempest immediately.” SAM says. “Ryder needs medical help and Mr. Ama Darav…”

Jaal grunts in pain, covering his mouth with a hand while wincing.

“I think Jaal needs it too.” Drack cackles, patting the angara’s back.

 

\- - - -

 

“I can’t believe you were so _reckless_!” Lexi hisses, smashing keys on her omnitool, probably pretending those are Ryder’s and Jaal’s heads. “Touching alien plants, sucking poison, all without even _contacting_ me!”

“There was no time to-” Jaal starts, still sounding like his mouth is full of cotton, but he gets quiet when Lexi shoots him a glare.

“I’m sorry, Jaal.” Chloe says from her bed, looking at him with sad eyes. “I didn’t understand what you were trying to tell me during the fight.”

“Darling One, I’m fine!” he chuckles. “What most matters is that you are here, safe and sound.”

Even if his voice still sounds funny, at least he can talk now and his tongue isn’t as swollen as before. It also stopped burning, thanks to Lexi’s medications.

He moves to get up from his bed and join Chloe, but Lexi’s glare stops him again.

“You will stay here for the whole night.” she orders, causing Ryder to groan and Jaal to huff. “And no kissing! There might still be traces of poison left on Jaal’s tongue.”

“No kissing?” he gasps, shock in his eyes. Chloe asks in a little voice, already missing him: “For how long?”

“For at least two days. The rash should be gone by then.” Lexi’s glare is frightening as she points at them. “I’ll keep an eye on you. And SAM will stop you if you even try to share the most chaste of kisses.”

Chloe falls back on her bed, groaning again, while Jaal lets out what sounds like a tiny sniffle.

“Can we at least sleep in the same bed?” she asks, hopeful, and he nods quickly, but their puppy eyes are punctually ignored by the asari, who sits at her desk and replies flatly: “Absolutely not. I don’t want to find you dead tomorrow morning, Ryder.”

That convinces Jaal this is actually necessary and he turns to his Darling One with a soft smile.

“She’s right, my love. Let’s be strong for a little more. Our next kisses will taste even sweeter.”

Chloe sighs, but nods; then she lightens up and slowly gets up, watching Lexi in case she notices her movements.

The asari is too busy reading the data of the plant and poison SAM collected and she doesn’t see her, so Chloe moves next to Jaal’s bed and whispers: “You can’t kiss me yet, but _I_ can kiss _you_.”

And then she presses her lips on his forehead, putting all her love and gratefulness into it. Jaal understands the meaning behind her kiss and beams at her, cupping her cheek with a hand.

Chloe kisses his palm, too, but this time the kiss is louder and Lexi gasps, horrified, getting up from her seat at the speed of light.

“Bed, _now_!” she growls, pointing at the empty bed and Chloe rushes to it, sticking out her tongue at her before smiling lovingly at Jaal, who is watching her with awed eyes.

“This will be a terribly long night.” Lexi sobs, pinching the bridge of her nose. Just then, Drack walks in front of the open door and bursts into his roaring laugh, hands on his hips.

“Let the kids have fun, doc!”

“ _You_.” The asari marches to him with a glowering face and even if Drack is never scared, right now he looks ready to bolt out of the ship. “You skipped _three_ appointments!”

“I…”

“Enter!” Lexi points at the room. “ _Now_.”

“But…”

She flexes her finger and it would look hilarious if she wasn’t so furious. Drack clears his throat and steps into the Med Bay, mumbling: “Color me impressed and aroused, doc.”

Lexi scoffs, stomping towards her desk, but there is a cute blush on her cheeks now and Chloe and Jaal smile at the couple, touched by the gentle way Drack speaks to Lexi and the sweet way she replies to him.

Then Chloe seizes the chance and jumps into Jaal’s bed, sighing happily when he wraps his arms around her; they aren’t going to kiss, but she definitely can pepper his face with kisses and his hands can _definitely_ pet her hair and face without problems.

Lexi gives them the flattest, most unimpressed expression they ever saw, but then she relents and leaves them alone, focusing back on Drack.

“Good idea, doc.” he grins, nodding at the adorable couple. “Always let the kids have fun!”


End file.
